Jay man hypnotized alleged victim after sex, she says

AUBURN, Maine – The alleged victim of a Jay man accused of raping her said he would hypnotize her after having sex with her to “boost her confidence,” according to court records.

Aaron Patton, 37, was indicted by an Androscoggin County grand jury on four counts of gross sexual assault and single counts of sexual contact and sexual abuse of a minor.

According to his indictment, Patton is charged with having sex with a now-17-year-old three times in 2008 and once in 2009 in Livermore Falls. He also is charged with having sex with her in Jay. That case, filed in Franklin County, is expected to be joined with the Livermore Falls charges.

He was freed on $1,000 cash bail when he appeared in court in June and is scheduled to go to trial later this month in Androscoggin County Superior Court.

Police said in an affidavit that Patton first had sexual contact with the teen when she was 13. They started having sexual intercourse about once a week when she was 14.

She told Jay police Sgt. Joseph Sage that Patton was a clinical hypnotist and “would hypnotize her after the sexual contact to ‘boost her confidence,'” Sage wrote in an affidavit in May 2010 in support of probable cause for Patton’s arrest.

The alleged victim told police that the couple’s sexual contact was consensual, “but that sometimes Aaron would guilt her into having sex with him,” Sage wrote.

Police secured a search warrant for Patton’s home and took several items, including bed sheets, a computer and a chair.

When approached by police about the accusations, Patton said he had to speak to a lawyer and refused to answer questions posed by police, Sage wrote.